Wycombe | |
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County constituency for the House of Commons |
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Boundary of Wycombe in Buckinghamshire.
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Location of Buckinghamshire within England.
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County | Buckinghamshire |
Electorate | 73,956 (April 2015) |
Major settlements | High Wycombe |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1885 |
Member of parliament | Steve Baker (Conservative) |
Number of members | One |
1295–1885 | |
Number of members | Two until 1868, then One |
Type of constituency | County constituency |
Overlaps | |
European Parliament constituency | South East England |
Wycombe /ˈwɪkəm/ is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Steve Baker, a Conservative.
Wycombe has continuously returned MPs since the Model Parliament of 1295. As a parliamentary borough (often referred to as High Wycombe or Chepping Wycombe), it returned two MPs until 1868 and then one until its abolition in 1885. The name was then transferred to a new county division, formally known as the "Wycombe division of Buckinghamshire".
The constituency shares similar borders with Wycombe local government district, although it covers a slightly smaller area. The main town within the constituency, High Wycombe contains many working/middle class voters and a sizeable ethnic minority population that totals around one quarter of the town's population, with some census output areas of town home to over 50% ethnic minorities. The surrounding villages which account for just under half of the electorate are some of the most wealthy areas in the country with extremely low unemployment, and high incomes. Workless claimants totalled 3.0% of the population in November 2012, lower than the national average of 3.8%.
1885-1918: The Municipal Borough of Chepping Wycombe, the Sessional Divisions of Burnham and Stoke, and parts of the first and second Sessional Divisions of Desborough.
1918-1945: The Municipal Borough of Chepping Wycombe, the Urban Districts of Eton, Marlow, and Slough, the Rural Districts of Eton and Hambleden, and part of the Rural District of Wycombe.
1945-1950: The Municipal Borough of Chepping Wycombe, the Urban District of Marlow, and the Rural District of Wycombe.